


the stages of grief

by orphan_account



Series: Percabeth One Shots [9]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Dark, Death, F/M, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25575664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Still weak from Tartarus, Percy isn't in his prime shape, so when a huge monster attacks the Argo II, he gets brutally attacked...
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Series: Percabeth One Shots [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840204
Kudos: 24





	the stages of grief

**Author's Note:**

> This is not my usual fluff, but I've been playing with this idea for a few weeks now and wanted to give it a try. hope you enjoy
> 
> -K

Typical. Annabeth gets back from literal hell and not even two days later is being attacked by a hideous green monster. The crew stood on the deck, swords, and weapons drawn. Percy stood next to her, Riptide glowing in the cloudy light. He looked terrible. There were huge purple bags under his eyes, and he was a sickly green color. No matter that they were sailing, not flying. This time, the sea didn't seem to be helping him.   
"Okay," Jason shouted over the roar of the creature, "Let's attack from all sides."  
Jason and Leo ran to the left, heading to the monster's back. Frank and Coach Hedge ran to the right, and Piper and Hazel held the left of it. That meant that Percy and Annabeth would take this thing head-on.   
The monster lashed out with its many tentacles, grabbing for its attackers. She stabbed with her sword, right at the eyes of the beast. It swiveled to avoid the blow, and its tentacles went flying like a skirt in the wind. One of them slammed Percy in the chest, and he hit the railing of the deck with a grunt. Annabeth chopped off the tentacle and ran over to her boyfriend.   
"I'm fine," he muttered, but he stumbled the entire way back over to the creature.  
"No, you aren't" she argued back, "Go below decks, and we will handle this thing."  
Percy shook his head.   
"No," he said firmly, "This is some sort of ocean monster. That's my thing."  
Annabeth wanted to argue more, but he shoved past her and raised his sword to stab at the beast again. Piper shouted something over the ruckus, but Annabeth couldn't make it out. Frank and Hazel seemed to hear her though, and they began to group up near the right side of it.   
She ran after Percy, into the thick of the battle. She focused on destroying the tentacles, as those were the creature's biggest weapon.   
Caught up in the battle, she didn't notice when Hazel was calling her name.  
"Annabeth!" she shouted, "Percy fell in!"  
Annabeth turned around and ran toward her so fast, she almost tripped over her own feet.  
She hit the rail, hard, and looked over the side of the boat, into the dark sea.   
"Where is he?" she asked Hazel.  
"I don't know!" the girl replied, panicked, "He should be okay though, right? The water will heal him?"  
"Was he hurt?" Annabeth demanded to know.  
"Yes," Hazel replied quickly, "A tentacle went through his stomach! Did you not see it? That's why I'm so worried. I'd go after him but I can't sw-"  
Annabeth cut off whatever she was going to say by ripping off her shirt, exposing her black sports bra, and diving into the water.   
It was a perfect dive, one Percy would have been proud of. A shame he didn't see it.   
It was very dark under the water, but luckily Riptide was still drawn, and it's ghostly glow led Annabeth to Percy.   
She held her breath and swam toward him. He was barely breathing, blood soaking through his shirt and into the water around him. Annabeth was incredibly confused. Why was he not being healed by the water?  
Running low on oxygen, Annabeth pulled with all of her strength and swam up to the surface, dragging Percy behind her. She gasped for breath and sidestroke over to the side of the Argo II, where the battle was still going on. She grasped onto one of the oars, unable to get back onto the deck of the boat.   
Percy's eyes fluttered as he breathed shallowly, and she wondered yet again- why was the water not healing him? She lifted up the hem of his shirt to inspect the wound.   
The water was, in fact, healing Percy-trying to at least. It seemed like the injury was too strong- the water would heal some skin back together, and the blood would surge from the hole, breaking it all over again.  
"No," Annabeth whispered, "No, no no nononononono!"   
She pressed her hands to his stomach, trying to stop the blood.  
"An-Annabeth," Percy mumbled through his teeth, "It's no use... I'm not... strong enough. From... Tartarus...still sick."  
She shook her head at him.   
"You are not dying!" she yelled, "Not after everything!"   
"Love... you."  
Annabeth continued to try to fix the wound, still hanging onto the oar of the boat. She didn't notice when the monster was defeated and thrown off of the boat, and when Jason flew down to find her.   
"There- Oh, Gods!" Jason said when he approached the couple.  
"Take him!" Annabeth practically screamed, "Help him!"  
Jason picked up Percy and flew back onto the boat as fast as he could, then returned to get Annabeth.   
As soon as he was within reaching distance, she grabbed onto his shoulders.  
"Go!"  
By the time they got back to the boat, the entire crew had surrounded Percy, who was lying on the ground. Jason set Annabeth on the ground, and she ran over.  
"Why aren't you doing anything? Help him! Get me something to help!"   
"Annabeth, he's dead," Piper whispered, coming over to her and putting her arm around her.  
Annabeth pushed her away.  
"No," she said firmly, "He needs help. Get me-"  
"Annabeth," Piper repeated, "Percy is dead. He doesn't have a heartbeat."  
"No," Annabeth said through tears. "No... he's... he's not-"  
Piper took her hand gently and placed it onto Percy's neck, where his pulse would have been, should have been. But there was nothing but his cold, wet skin.   
"No," Annabeth whispered again, "No, no, nonono."  
A heartbroken screech rang out, hurting Annabeth's ears, not realizing it was she who was making the noise.   
Annabeth didn't remember what happened next. Piper told her later that it took them three hours to talk Annabeth away from Percy's body, and that she sat in her cabin for two days, saying nothing, eating nothing. She hadn't even slept. 

Annabeth wasn't sure exactly how grief worked. She had never experienced true grief. Sure, she grieved when they defeated Kronos, but that was different. That was collective grief over all of camp. No one was grieving with Annabeth on the Argo II. The rest of the crew was upset, obviously, but they couldn't grieve as Annabeth did. They were only Percy's friends. Close ones, sure, but they were still only friends. Annabeth was his best friend and his soulmate at that.   
So first came the silence. The total, complete, and utter silence. She said nothing, did nothing. She stared at the wall so long, the crew began to think she wouldn't recover. 

Next was denial. He wasn't dead, he would come back. She stayed in her room and talked to nobody, convinced that is she stayed in the same place and wished Percy into existence, he would come back.

Then came the tears. The heartwrenching sobs into Piper's or Hazel's shoulder. The first sound she had made since the day Percy died was a sob. They didn't stop for days. She ate during this time, at least. 

Of course, this was followed by anger. She hated that fucking monster. She hated this fucking quest. She hated herself for not being able to save him. She hated Poseidon for his blood in Percy not being able to save him. She hated Percy, too, for leaving her here. For leaving her to bring his body back to his mother and tell her that she found him but couldn't save him in the end. For being really dead this time, not like the two times before when he had been missing. But mostly, she fucking hated Hera. 

The silence, tears, denial, and anger cycled through for months, after the quest was over after Percy's little sister had been born after she felt like she had cried until she couldn't anymore.

But eventually, Annabeth came to terms with his death. She had finally managed to accept it. She wasn't sure if she could ever move on from him, but she had at least made it to the point where she could move on with her life.   
And that would have to be good enough.


End file.
